The beginning of the Stephanie Project. Audrey Dewan, Bobbie Wagner, Carole Schumacher, and KayCee Christenson embarked on sewing charity quilts in April 2018.
Carole Schumacher
It all began in Anchorage, Alaska in 2012 when Audrey Dewan met Stephanie in a quilting class. Stephanie was only 29 years old, but the two became great quilt buddies. Stephanie’s husband later transferred to Jakarta, Indonesia, where Stephanie began collecting reasonably priced local batik fabrics until their return to Houston, Texas.
Fast-forward to 2018 when Stephanie came to PebbleCreek to visit Audrey and brought an entire suitcase of batiks to dispose of because she said, “I had more fabric than I could ever use in my lifetime.” Audrey and some other friends bought some of the fabric, and Audrey told Stephanie she intended to use the batiks to make charity quilts to donate to community services earmarked by the PebbleCreek Quilters. When Stephanie realized how much of a difference her suitcase of batiks could make, she decided to leave the entire suitcase of fabrics with Audrey!
After a bit of consternation, Audrey was overwhelmed by the amount of work it would take to use up all this fabric for charity quilts, so she stuck several bundles of the batiks in her bag when she attended the PC Quilters annual spring luncheon in April 2018. Over a glass of wine on the clubhouse patio, Audrey, along with Bobbie Wagner, Carole Schumacher, and Kaycee Christenson, enthusiastically decided to embark on creating charity quilts together and named it the Stephanie Project.
Over the next year (or two), the gals, joined by Nancy Nelson, had several sew days in Carole’s studio. There everyone had a hand in either cutting, matching, sewing, or pressing to create eight lovely quilt tops. Carole and Bobbie got busy quilting and by April 2020, completed eight stunning batik charity quilts.
Since COVID-19 had terminated all monthly PebbleCreek Quilters Club show-and-tells, the ladies held the quilts until this fall. By October, the group decided it was time to celebrate, so they met in Carole’s backyard to toast the quilts and prepare them for their final destinations: Hospice of the Valley, Southwest Family Advocacy Center, and Ryan’s House.
Another project, well done! For more information about donating fabric to the PebbleCreek Quilters Club, or learning more about the charity causes supported by the club, go to www.pebblecreekquilters.org and click on the link Community Service.